Wednesday 17th January is traditionally Wassail night at the Butchers Arms in Carhampton and I shall be there to play some folk tunes in the bar with (hopefully) a load of other traditional folk musicians, but why have people been doing this for so many years? Read on or listen to the podcast at the foot of this page.
I say ‘hopefully’ because the whole thing is very informal and that is the true nature of tradition. Musicians keep turning up because they always have. Sometimes there are more and sometimes there are less. People become unable to play but then new faces pop up and become part of the living tradition.
Of course there are some important lynch pins and there would be great consternation if they were absent, but, at the end of the day, a tradition is about something that is not just only about people or a place but which is a sort of knowledge or belief that lives in the community that doing a particular thing together is important.
So, on Wednesday, I shall be at Carhampton playing my flute and soprano sax and I’m already looking forward to seeing my many folk musician friends from this area and maybe meeting some new ones.
According to tradition, slices of toast will be soaked in cider and put in the apple trees behind the pub. The Carhampton Wassailing song will be sung and guns will be fired to ward off the evil spirits. Then cider will be poured around the tree’s roots. So it has happened before and so it will happen again and again, hopefully without end.
Why is this important? For me it’s a great night out and a chance to play some traditional folk tunes with friends I’ve often not seen since the last Wassail.
For others, (frequently including television companies), it is a traditional local event worthy of a passing comment on quaint rural activities and maybe a short slot to blunt the impact of the days news horrors and unpleasant issues.
Maybe, even a few, feel there is a spiritual significance.
But perhaps the true importance of Wassailing stems from the essence of why traditions endure.
Traditions are seldom a solitary matter. They are embedded in communal knowledge and memories and are enacted by people meeting together to share the tradition. Above all, they are an expression of the importance of the community.
Modern communication brings so many benefits and the Internet has helped to grow vibrant communities to meet a whole host of niche interests.
Yet, for many, passively watching television is also a major part of their lives and goggling at the box, even with other, is a very solitary activity.
Working online from home is growing and people, like myself, who do this, may not see the outside world for days, unless we make a special effort. Sure I go for a walk each lunchtime but social interaction on Exmoor paths is likely to be limited to a brief ‘hello’ before a rapid retreat into the distance.
Somehow, online communities, lack the warmth and humanity of real social interaction and I’m sure that I’m not the only one who feels this.
Perhaps, therefore, the significance of traditional customs today is even further enhanced because it brings with it the pleasure of ‘just being with other people.’
So, if you’re in the West Somerset area on 17th January, and you feel like helping to keep the local tradition of ‘being with other people’ alive, I hope to see you wassailing at the Butchers Arms, Carhampton in rural West Somerset.
Happy Wassailing
Rob Hopcott
P.S. Even the strongest of traditions can be interrupted by events so always check with the landlord at the Butchers Arms before travelling to avoid disappointment.
